


Inked

by Mel_Sanfo



Series: Inked universe [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Felicity is his lobster, Nyssa (mentioned), Roy Harper (sort of), Tattoo!Oliver
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-22
Updated: 2015-09-22
Packaged: 2018-04-22 21:06:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4850549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mel_Sanfo/pseuds/Mel_Sanfo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felicity wants to get over her fear of needles and decides to find a tattoo artist at a local tattoo expo but an artist finds her instead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inked

**Author's Note:**

> While working on the latest chapter of my multi-chapter story, Masquerade, this one idea started rotting my brain. So after I was done with the chapter I got this one down. 
> 
> So far this is a one shot but never say never ;)
> 
> As usual, I don't own Arrow and all mistakes are my own.

For as long as she could remember Felicity had been scared of needles. The only reason her ears were pierced was because her Bubbie had pierced them herself with the good ol’ combo of ice and needle when Felicity was very very little. Her industrial piercing? That had been her statement of rebellion in college, when she’d gone Goth and was supposedly celebrating her individuality. And no one knew that she’d had such a freak out in the piercing parlor that she’d been banned from it for life!

So when her dear Bubbie had passed away Felicity had decided that she would put her fear to rest, or at least put it on pause in order to avoid another freak out disaster, and get a tattoo in her memory. Not one of those big ones where someone plastered their loved one’s face in a certain part of their body but something small, easily concealable, along with one of her Bubbie’s favorite sayings.

She hoped, desperately, that it didn’t hurt too much.

Since she had no idea what she was looking for…Nope, scratch that. Her best friend Nyssa had explained to her that it wasn’t so much about ‘what’ she was looking for but the ‘who’; as in which artist was the best choice for her. Either way, she had no idea about her options. Internet searches, her bread and butter, had given her way too many results and options, leaving her dazed and confused instead of with more concrete knowledge than what she started with; which was very frustrating for someone like Felicity, who made the internet her bitch every day of the week.

What she DID find was information on a Tattoo/Body Art and Piercings Expo that was happening only a few weeks later. So Felicity set up a reminder notice on her phone to make sure she didn’t miss it and then put the topic to rest. She decided she’d go to the expo and see what Starling City’s artists had to offer first hand before making what could turn out to be one of the most important decisions of her life.

That Saturday morning Felicity was actually excited about the possibility of finding an artist to bring her idea to life. Yes, it wasn’t anything too creative but Nyssa had explained that it really wasn’t so much about the art, though the design itself was important, but she had to focus her interest on finding an artist who made her feel comfortable enough, basing her choice on both their skill set and personality, to get the art done in the first place.

With her hair its usual high ponytail, her glasses, her bubble gum pink sleeveless dress and her red platform stiletto Mary Jane’s, which made her legs look like they went for miles and always gave her a boost of confidence when she needed it, she was quite different from everyone else at the expo. But instead of feeling self-conscious or out of place she was pleasantly surprised that a lot of the other expo goers seemed to ‘dig’ her sense of style and color! One of the models had even complimented her on her shoes and asked where she’d gotten them.

She’d been lazily browsing around the booths for a long while with no luck. She really wasn’t finding anything that spoke to her art wise on the portfolios that she looked at, not enough for her to want to approach an artist anyways. Deciding she’d seen more than enough designs and art to make her mind boggle she started heading for the doors, disappointment tugging at her heart at having failed on finding an artist, when she got distracted by a big crowd gathered around a booth she hadn’t been able to approach before.

Using her petite size to her advantage she seized the opportunity to get closer to the booth when a guy in front of her shifted to the side just a smidge. As luck would have it she was pushed in by the crowd at that very moment and she was close enough to peek over the arm of Gus, he introduced himself when he realized she was there as he went to move back and bumped into her. She commented on the awesome looking black and grey art he had on his forearm and since they were both interested in looking at the tablets that held the art gallery apps for the artist’s portfolios (instead of just regular photo albums) he graciously shifted so she was close to his side, partially standing before him while he shielded her from the pushing and pulling of the crowd.

Gus was interested in the work from a younger artist from Verdant Ink, Roy Harper, who apparently specialized on the black and grey art style Gus was looking for and he pointed him out to her. The young man looked like an Abercrombie model, with his chiseled features and short dark hair all the way down to the jeans and the red hoodie. He had the sleeves rolled up, his hands were covered with purple latex gloves and he was working on a piece as people watched enraptured. The buzzing of the machine could be heard over the crowd’s noise but Felicity was taken more with the canvas of Mr. Harper’s art than her surroundings.

The man sitting on the chair was a Greek God. There was no other way to describe him! His body alone was a piece of art, let alone the tattoos on it. He OBVIOUSLY worked out, the muscles and his bulk telling the story of his love for exercise (and even though Felicity hated the gym with a passion she thanked the Google gods that he had a better sense of commitment to fitness than she did). The man was shirtless, sitting perfectly still, eyes closed with one arm raised over his head, hanging off the headrest of the chair while Roy Harper worked on his side. What was it with the men from Verdant Ink, or even their models?! The guy getting the tattoo was gorgeous! His short hair was dark blonde almost verging in brown and the scruff on his face was really working for him.

And the tattoo?

The piece was HUGE! Tribal in style, all wide bands and curves of black ink with sharp angles in different locations that made it look uber masculine, raw and almost primal. It covered the whole left side of his body. It wasn’t just a sleeve, a term that she’d learned while doing her research. Oh no. It spread over his arm, from his wrist to his shoulder, then moved up towards his neck; stopping at the junction that was there before the column of it and dripped down his front, over his pectoral muscle and further down onto the underside, his side and abs, all the way down to the deep V cut at his hip. A glint of metal caught her eye during her perusal and she realized that Mr. Tribal tattoo had both his nipples pierced which made a flare of heat to rush through her.

She had never thought about piercings being her sort of thing, as far as a turn on went, but right now it seemed like the best thought ever!

Swallowing hard she looked down at the tablet in front of her trying to clear her head from the fog of hotness, after all she wasn’t here to ogle a model but to find an artist for her own piece. She was quite surprised as she browsed through the virtual gallery. The art there actually called to her and for a long moment she could only stare at the pictures of several of the pieces there. She knew it, in a single moment. Whoever’s work this was, she was interested.

“Hey, Gus.” She said patting the guy by her on the chest with the back of her hand. “Do you know whose work is this?”

The man looked down at her and smirked.

“You’re really new to the scene, aren’t you, ‘City?” the man asked with a chuckle.

“Uh… yeah. Why?”

“Look here.” He said pointing at the initials on the bottom of one of the pictures “OQ. Stands for Oliver Queen. He’s the owner of Verdant Ink. Most exclusive parlor around and best damn artist in Starling. The man’s won several national awards too. Waiting lists to get inked by him are long as shit, you gotta wait at least a year and a half to get seen for a consult and he can still choose not to work on you.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah.” He said, bringing her to stand right in front of him with his big hands on her shoulders before he lifted one of them and pointed towards Roy Harper and Mr. Tribal who was standing up now, showing off the piece that Roy Harper had just finished working on. “That’s him right there. He just got his tattoo done.”

Oh Frack.

If he’d been impressive before while standing up he was even more breathtaking and of COURSE he was the one whose art had spoken to her. Shaking her head she looked down at the tablet again and used her forefinger to trail the edge of one of the pictures there, it was the image of a cherry blossom tree and the artistry on it was amazing. It looked more like a watercolor than a tattoo!

“That’s a great piece. It took 2 sessions, 4 hours each to get it just right.” The voice was an unknown one and when she looked up it was to get caught in the bluest of gazes she’d ever seen. “The customer was very pleased with the result. It seems you are too.” He added with a slight uptick of his lips and the little mole by the side of his bottom lip distracted her.

“I’m afraid of needles.” She blurted and then closed her eyes, scrunching up her nose in annoyance at herself. “3…2…1…” she muttered reopening her eyes and looking up at him, trying to keep her eyes above neck level since he was still very much shirtless. “Never mind that, I meant… yes, it’s very beautiful. I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it before.”

“Thanks.” He said with another soft smile. “Did you have any questions on my work?”

“Oh no… No no no. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I would love to be able to talk about some of your pieces with you because, really, some of them are just wow; this one alone is worth at least an hour of conversation, without any tangents and believe you me, if there’s two things I can do is talk and go on tangents. I talk a lot, especially if I’m nervous, which I am because, hello needles everywhere. And the tangents, they sort of just happen while I’m talking. Don’t even get me started on that path or else we’ll be here all day.” She admitted pressing her lips together to keep her babble from getting worse before it really took on a mind of its own. “But… apparently you’re Oliver Queen, Uber successful tattoo artist and tattoo parlor owner who has a waiting list that lasts months and months and months so I really shouldn’t monopolize your time talking about a small piece when there’s quite possibly better choices costumer wise around here just waiting for your attention. Besides, I probably wouldn’t even register on your ‘interesting tattoo designs to do’ list, Mister Queen.” She offered with a bit of a smile.

“I have someone that takes good care of my schedule for me so there’s no need to worry about that, but if you’re really worried then maybe we can talk about this particular piece and the one you’re interested in getting over dinner.” He said immediately.

“Dinner?” She asked “As in, you and me?”

He smiled at her again and nodded his head once.

“That way you can tell me how someone who is afraid of needles ends up at a Tattoo expo, wanting to get inked.” He said

“Um… I…Okay?”

“Great.” He said leaning down to pick up a card from the table in front of her, he also grabbed a pen and scribbled something on the back of the card before handing it to her. “You know, it’s really unfair that you know my name but I don’t know yours yet.”

“Maybe you’ll learn it during the date?” She ventured to ask, taking the card from him and beaming a smile his way before trapping her lower lip below her teeth.

“How about tonight? 7 PM. I’ll meet you wherever you like.” He offered immediately.

“Seriously? Just like that?” she asked, dumbfounded.

How was this her life!? Sure, she had gone to the expo to find a tattoo artist…but not this way! And what the hell had gotten into her that she was shamelessly flirting with the guy?!

“Just like that.” He agreed

“Ok…um…I’ll text you the details, Mr. Queen.”

“Oliver. Mister Queen is my father.” He said with another smile and it was really an unfair fact, him smiling at her like that, looking so hopeful, made a cluster of butterflies bloom in her belly.

“Oliver.” She repeated before turning around and squeezing into the crowd, heading for the door.

When she made it to her car she had a moment of hesitation where she truly thought about what just happened to her… It really wasn’t like her to awkwardly flirt with a guy like him. Hell, it wasn’t like her to flirt much at all! But she had and now not only did she have his phone number but she’d also scored a date with Oliver Queen, tattooed Greek god

Taking out her cell phone she saved the number on the card and then dialed her friend immediately.

“Hey, Nyssa… Yeah, just got out of the expo. Oh, it was interesting for sure. Very enlightening. Learned a lot.” She said “So… since you know more about this than I do, have you ever heard of a tattoo artist called Oliver Queen?”

 

 

 

 

                                                                  << Oliver's Ink. 


End file.
